My 10 Things

During one of my many blog perusing sessions, I came across another family type blog. Well her most recent entry was the ten things she loves most about her son. How sweet! Of course, at that instant I felt like a mean mom because lately my nerves have been shot. ***side note - today Nico was in a great mood! are the teeth finally done being a sore subject?!*** Anyway, I thought that it would be a really nice thing to do for my son - let him know my favorite 10 things about him. Here they are (man, I hope I don't get sappy and start bawling!) & (these are in no particular order):
1. The teeth! I can't help but do anything I can to get him to flash me those jumbo sized tic-tacs!
2. Hearing him repeat a word that was said, especially when I think he isn't even paying attention, and then hearing him repeat it through out the day. I really can teach him!
3. I love his neck!!! It is soooo the best place to plant as many kisses as possible within 15 seconds - because that is about all of the time you have before he wiggles out of your arms!
4. Believe it or not, him walking is the greatest! Mainly because NOW he will walk right over to you and grab out for a hug! Irresistible!
5. I like his little camera "ham" poses. Once that camera comes out, he knows what it's for.
6. Another of my favorites is to dress him like Dada. Obviously shopping has long been a compulsive addiction of mine, and it has now been made worse because I love the little man clothes.
7. This may be an odd one to some, and may be not at all to others, but...the smell of his breath. I do not have a reason why. It must be a mom thing - at least I hope because I don't want to be a weirdo.
8. His name. I don't know why we struggled for so long (uhh, until 2 days after he was born!) to come up with something. I'm glad that we named him Nicholas, but Nico has really grown on me. They really do grow into their names.
9. His fuzzy, ducky hair! Yes, I know that there still isn't much of it. However, what he does have...OMG, it's like the softest down feathers you have ever snuggled with. What makes it so great is when you are holding him and he rests his head on your shoulder. Then, I just nuzzle my face in it.
10. Probably my most favorite thing that has to do with my son is Time. Yep, because when I think about time, I think about the future and it makes me excited to wonder what new things he will do that will become my new favorites. Ahhh, when he's good it's great, and when he's not so good, I still love him!

Cousin's Day

Last night we took Nico and his cousin Sammi to the Disney Playhouse Live Tour. What should I start with first? It was okay. I think it was a little under-produced for carrying the Disney name in it's title. I expected more from it. On the other hand, it was so much fun for Vito and I to take them. Sammi just had a blast! Poor Nico...I feel like that's all I say lately. He watched most of it, but he looked miserable doing it! Geez, will these teeth please just come in!!! Draining, just so draining for all of us. After the show, we went to Denny's to eat. Sammi wanted to go. And we had no energy left from dealing with Nico to take them to Chuck E Cheese's. So I made a special call, and found out that they were actually closed until next week because the pizza ovens were broke. Is there a reason I needed to create such a detailed faux phone call for a 4 year old? I think it just made me feel better not to let her down with the truth. Then we came home (finally and thank God!), where my son continued with his miserableness. At last, bath time! We were on the home stretch to putting him to bed. I feel bad that I wanted him to go to bed so badly, but he was also not letting Sammi have any fun with us. Once he was down, Sam and I decided that we were going to put curls in her hair. She's been wanting to use my Velcro rollers so bad. My plan was to put them in her wet hair, dry her hair while rolled and Voila! Well, once I had them all in she informed me that she didn't like the blow dryer because it is too loud. I tried to explain that her hair wouldn't curl if we didn't dry it. Uncle Vito to the rescue! She gave in when it was suggested that we would use the blow dryer on low AND Uncle Vito would hold her hand through out the whole ordeal. Perfect. Anyway, we did what we could, but it was still a little too damp to hold much of a curl. I did the best I could. She made it very clear with the look on her face when we were done - "Uh, where are the curls?" Busted. But with a little twisting and looping and a bobby pin we made something happen!
Then, this morning we walked to the park, went to the craft store, came home and made Nana a special surprise and then Sammi was off to soccer! An event filled day! I took a ton of pictures, so I am posting the link back to Kodak again so they can be viewed as a slide show. P.S. I have had some requests for the funny face...which is actually Dada's drunk face when playing poker. Nico's is from teething, but it still seems to run in the family. It's not that I think it's adorable - because it's not all that cute -it's just funny.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?UV=644582073390_562468740308&mode=fromsite&collid=41871001308.650229740308.1222544631600&conn_speed=1

Window Shopping Day

Today, I decided Nico and I would make a quick trip to Old Navy mid-morning. Well, now that he is a little marcher that's all he wants to do. I made the mistake of taking him out of the cart to let him wander a little...I couldn't get him back in of course! After that, I figured we would walk over to Barnes and Noble. Thought this might help him burn off some of that energy. And the timing was perfect because it was getting so close to nap-time!!! So these are just some pictures of him walking, window shopping and sitting in one of the "big" kid chairs at the book store. What a totally cute moment, and I almost missed it because I was too busy trying to pick out a puzzle. I was right next to that chair, he walked over, and climbed up into it himself. Then I realized he thought the puzzle was a book and he was trying to open it. How did he know to climb into the chair to read a book?!

15-month-old Update/Pictures

I uploaded some pictures of Nico on my Kodak Gallery file. Here is the link if you did not get the email - http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=j8gwvdo.4q8m14as&Uy=-63zn5f&Ux=0&UV=265022990124_215024730308

In other news, the Baby Gap Casting Call contest is here!!! I am so excited. It's a shot in the dark, but fun to still enter pictures. Of course, I missed the Photo Tour. It was today at the mall. They have a professional photographer there to take pictures. That would have been cool. You can still enter the contest. I haven't been on Gap's website lately, so I don't know if you can enter the contest via their site. If you go to my profile page here, you can email me and I can forward you the email I recieved. Or I suppose it is just as easy to Google it. Anyway, ages 0-10. I think it's up to 4 pictures you can submit. There's 4 different age catagories. Get that camera out and take some pictures! Enter all those cute kiddies!

Blog Updates

Okay, here is a random blog....
I have been getting inquiries as to why I follow blogs that aren't my close friends or family.... well, because I like them I suppose. I enjoy seeing what antics other mothers go through. Because it's usually the same as what I am dealing with at the time! So, that is my only reason. Also, for my Amato friends, I have tried to comment on your blog, but it is only available to team members. My sister-in-law thinks that I have made you up. So here is my comment..

I love the new background and picture of Brayden, and I enjoy seeing that our sons do just about the same things at the same age. Keep that cutie smiling!!!!

Auntie Lili....you should really update you blog with new pics of my youngest niece...I mean seriously, it isn't that hard to take a couple of snaps of the kid and post them. We don't even need you to comment we just want to see her! And my other girl Maya! Miss you all!

More video

I am struggling to load any of my videos, so I had to create another post. The second video is him getting caught in the baggy drawer basically.

Video Marathon

Here are some videos we have been saving up of Nico. Most of them make us laugh. Hope you enjoy them too!

Hit or Miss...

That's seems to be Nico's behavior lately, and it's wearing me down. When he's in a good mood he is just so darn cute and precious. But when he has been screaming for 20 minutes non-stop, every other 20 minutes, all day long, I often find myself thinking "How do I have any hair left right now?!" Of course, the fits are becoming more pronounced, louder, longer and more often during the day. Yesterday was no exception. We decided to take a little car ride downtown after lunch. Took a nice walk around the marina by Sea Port Village. It was enjoyable up to the point where I made the mistake of taking Nico out of the stroller. Well, all he wanted to do was push the stroller. I let him for a few minutes, but then it was time to start heading back. That didn't go over so well with him and he let us know. I must say this is the first time he has ever thrown a major fit in public. It came with ear-piercing, spine-tingling, face-cringing, screaming, plus tears, and the board stiffening posture. Poor Vito, he was really embarrassed. Not that I wasn't, but if we were both worried about all the people standing there staring at us, then there would have been no one to take care of the little alien baby I was holding. So we tried to turn the corner in between some buildings. I guess I was hoping to be a little less obvious. But, it didn't matter. Vito had been trying to get Nico buckled into the stroller, but because Nico kept acting like a stiff board it was becoming increasingly difficult and I think the tension was just becoming unbearable for both. It was at that exact moment that I made this decision and stated it out loud "We have to strap him in. I really don't give a ____(insert explicative here) about anyone else right now." There you have it. And I really didn't. AND had anyone said one word or rolled their eyes for me to catch...they would probably have walked away the ones crying. I think I realized that all of those people had the option/chance to walk away and not have to hear him. But did they consider that WE couldn't just walk away, and now we had to listen to it for half of the walk back?! Like that was something we were looking forward to. Also, if Vito and I really weren't making a valid attempt to try and calm him down and control him, then I would expect the undeserved snickers, etc. So as my favorite comedienne Kathy Griffin would say "Suck it!" I feel better now. I really needed to get that off of my chest. Especially since there have been so many tantrums lately. Oh it is just so mentally exhausting. But that is probably one of the main reasons we stay home so much, so that the rest of society doesn't have to deal with it. Believe me, I cannot stand hearing an out of control child. What makes it worse is when the parents do absolutely nothing. If you are making at least half an attempt I might not think nasty things in my head. That's part of why Vito and I will get up and go if Nico's behavior gets to that point. Anyway, as I sit here and write this, the Little Man himself is side-stepping over to me with the cutest grin on his face. It's just about enough to make me forget all about yesterday...at least for now.



In other news, Vito and I went to the Jack Johnson concert this weekend. It was fun. My first concert since I was 19. Just about as long for Vito. His set was a little shorter than I would have hoped for, but I am already dying to go back to any concert that interests me! Summer is quickly and obviously coming to an end. So sad. But that is the beauty of living in Southern California...the weather, no matter what season, is never bad! I'm totally excited about all the new shows on TV starting. Last night we watched Prison Break. I think next week are when more shows start....Grey's, Housewives. Not sure what I'm so super excited about, but let's hope it's worth it! I can think of more to go on about, but gotta go get the baby off of the toy chest!